Ilha do Desterro: A Journal of English Language, Literatures in English and Cultural Studies E-ISSN: 2175-8026 [email protected] Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina Brasil

Garcia Pinheiro, Neide Evans, Robert Michael. Isuma: Video Art. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University, 2008. Ilha do Desterro: A Journal of English Language, Literatures in English and Cultural Studies, núm. 56, enero-junio, 2009, pp. 167-170 Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina Florianópolis, Brasil

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REVIEWS/RESENHAS 1200 inhabitants. Despite of its small demographic scope, the place is home for the amazing number of three film companies: an office of the Inuit Broad- EEvans,vans, RRobertobert MMichael.ichael. IIsuma:suma: cast Corporation (IBC), Tariagsuk Film IInuitnuit V iideodeo AArt.rt. MMontrontreeal:al: Company, and Isuma Produc- MMcGill-Queen’scGill-Queen’s UUniversityniversity, 22008.008. tions. Isuma: Inuit Video Art focuses on the latter, an independent film enter- By Neide Garcia Pinheiro prise, which is one of the most well- known Indigenous film companies in the “Just as Inuit art should take its place world. Covering the history of Isuma, among the great arts of the world, Inuit the book explores various cultural and videography should take its place among political stances of Inuit filmmaking, the great Inuit arts” (3). Thus Robert showing how the producers combine tra- Michael Evans introduces his book Isuma : ditional and modern tech- Inuit Video Art. Other scholars have al- nologies to present stunning films both ready acknowledged the importance of to local and international audiences. Inuit videos in a broader context of film production. For instance, William Beard The author begins his reflections with a and Jerry White state that it is “some of short historical version of the develop- the most dynamic, exciting work on the ment of Inuit art, which has two main post-1980 North American media” connections. The first one is its link to (North of Everything , 2002, xx). Never- the lifestyle in the Arctic. In nomadic theless, Isuma by Evans is not only the times, habitual travels required that the most recent study about Inuit film pro- Inuit kept only a few belongings. Given duction, but also one of the most com- that, as it happens in a number of other prehensive views about the subject. cultures in the world, Inuit art was re- lated to daily life routines, in the de- Evans explains that in , the Inuit sign of garments, igloos and tools for language, ‘isuma’ means “thought” survival. However, this does not mean (20). Thus, from the very title of his that Inuit art was ‘merely’ utilitarian. book the author invites the reader ‘to As Evans explains, it was “internally reflect’ on the compelling film produc- meaningful,” combining the determi- tion in Igloolik, where he spent nine nation of survival with “the impas- months doing research from the perspec- sioned determination of celebrated ex- tive of ethnographic studies. Igloolik, an istence” (3), in one of the harshest envi- Inuit hamlet located between mainland ronments in the world. Canada and Baffin Island, has around

Ilha do Desterro Florianópolis nº 56 p. 167- 173 jan./jun. 2009 168 Reviews/Resenhas

The second historical nexus was the en- with the influence of southern-Canadian counter between the Inuit and the Euro- programming on Inuit culture and lan- pean societies. As Evans observes, start- guage. Given that, they created the Inuit ing around 1770, this encounter led to Broadcasting Corporation (IBC), aim- the “shifting [of Inuit art] from the in- ing at providing Inuit perspectives to ternally meaningful toward the commer- Inuit audiences. However, considering cial” (4). Inuit peoples began to produce the IBC as a bureaucratic office of south- art to trade by Western goods. The ern-Canadian systems of control, a commodification of Inuit art became group of Inuit people created Igloolik more intense in the twentieth century, Isuma, the first independent Inuit film when the Inuit were forced to settle. As company, which was incorporated offi- a result there was a change from a live- cially in 1990. lihood based on fishing, hunting and Isuma: Inuit Video Art engages in the gathering to a cash-based economy discussions of Indigenous filmmaking highly dependent on government wel- as a form of “embedded aesthetics,” a fare. Thus, the trading of sculptures, term Faye Ginsburg uses to “draw at- carvings and printings became a form tention to a system of evaluation that to implement the weak cashed-based refuses a separation of textual produc- economy in a region where few waged tion and circulation from broader are- jobs were available. nas of social relations” (368). In this According to Evans, the dependence on way, Evans combines textual analysis government assistance contributed to the of Isuma’s films with an in-depth dis- emergence of Inuit art movement in the cussion about the contexts of their cre- 1920s, when Canadian institutions be- ation. From this perspective, the films gan to market Inuit handicrafts. Within by Isuma reveal a number of important a few decades, Inuit printing and sculp- facets of Inuit traditional culture, in- tures also became appreciated in art cluding the value of community. collections in Europe, Asia and North Evans proposes the thesis that Isuma’s America. Indeed, as Hessel, quoted in films may be considered within the large Evans, states, only a “few contempo- realm of folklore studies. At the fore- rary art forms can claim such wide ac- ground of his hypothesis is the notion ceptance” (5). that folklore is “a lived activity, an inter- Emerging in the latest decades of the change among people, carried out in a twentieth century, Inuit filmmaking is real setting and shaped by social under- the most recent Inuit artistic endeavour, standing” (8). Aware that some folklor- and it has “thrust Inuit art into a broader ists would argue against the idea of elec- political realm,” Evans remarks (5). In tronic media as folklore, the author of- the early days of broadcast and film- fers a number of arguments to sustain making, Inuit peoples became concerned his hypothesis. One of them is Linda Reviews/Resenhas 169

Degh’s notion that electronically repro- cess of filmmaking. However, “while it duced folklore “retains all the criteria by [the film company] has its freedom” as which we judge what is folklore and an independent enterprise, it also faces what is not: it is socially relevant, based “a fundamental irony of its own”. The on tradition, and applied to current company is still dependent on Southern needs” (qtd. in Evans, 37). granting systems. As he concludes, “they [Isuma’s team] fight vigorously against Isuma’s films convey Inuit traditions, the foibles of this [granting] system, but rituals, and stories, contributing to the ultimately they must adhere to it or per- (re)imagination of the cultural past. In ish” (136). order to portray the traditional Inuit past, costumes are prepared, tents and Although Evans focuses on the work of Igloos are built, tools are made, make- Igloolik Isuma Corporation, he also pro- up is applied, rituals and traditions are vides an in-depth discussion about the enacted. These activities are accom- relationship between the three film com- plished in a community-based work, panies at Igloolik. As he observes, Isuma highlighting the strong sense of locality and Tariagsuk Video Centre seek to work and group identity at Isuma. In more and offer a “‘more Inuit’ view of Arctic practical terms, Isuma’s film produc- life, in both product and process.” Both tion contributes to increase the number companies see in the IBC an appendage of paying jobs in the region. Given that, of Ottawa bureaucratic system. Accord- as Evans maintains, Isuma reflects Inuit ing to the author, the distinct agendas, culture not only through film content, working styles and interests of Isuma, but also through the particular ap- Tariagsuk and IBC shows that “passing proach to work. Furthermore, the dis- the camera to the Inuit did not result in tinct working approach reinforces one a single, culturally pure form of self- fundamental aspect of the company’s expression” (203). Inuit cultural rep- philosophy, its belief in authenticity. resentation is filtered by the distinct per- spectives of each of the three companies The issue of authenticity revolves at Igloolik. around the central question of who has the right to represent a group. Quoted Isuma: Inuit Video Art has as its main in Evans, , one of the focus the discussion of Inuit film pro- leading members of Isuma, says, “we duction at Igloolik. However, the book are in the best position to tell our sto- ushers into an ongoing and overarching ries” (133). However, the struggle over discussion about what happens when the right to representation is by no means take over filmmak- an easy task, especially when an inde- ing as a means of self-representation. pendent film company has to face the Among Evans’s conclusions “the most challenges of the economic system. As profound, perhaps, is that the sought Evans remarks, Isuma controls the pro- after (sic) pure transmission of culture 170 Reviews/Resenhas retreats like a rainbow, always just out are intermingled, some writers work in of reach” (208). Given that, the great collaboration, and, on top of that, each virtue of the book is to remind the reader author speaks through varied, unique that critical analyses of Indigenous film- channels. Prior to the poems, the poets making should take into account the also engage in an interview with the edi- power imbued in the process of repre- tors who, in a sense, not only sentation rather than engaging in essen- contextualize the reading, but also en- tialist discussions about authentic por- rich their appreciation. trayals of Native life and experience. This At first sight, the title may point to a perspective allows for a better appre- somewhat identifiable direction – the ciation of the outstanding works such words Canadian and women in a sense as the ones by the Inuit filmmakers at strongly modify the prose and poetics Igloolik. in question. Yet, this seems not to be the References case here. As the editors have pointed Beard, William, and Jerry White. North of out, though the question of gender and Everything . Edmonton: The University nation are to be found permeating many of Alberta Press, 2002. of the poems here, it is the word inno- vative which, in fact, directs the vol- Ginsburg, Faye. “Embedded Aesthetics: Creating a Discursive Space for Indigenous ume. In their own words, innovative Media.” Cultural Anthropology 9 (1994): would be “poetry and poetics as writ- 365-382. ing that, at the very least, approaches language as an inherent problematic and subject of inquiry rather than mere vehicle of representation” (9). Therefore, innovation and boldness is what join PPrismaticrismatic P Publics:ublics: I Innovativennovative these writers. In fact, the anthology may CCanadiananadian W oomen’smen’s P Poetryoetry a andnd be seen as an unparalleled collection in PPoeticsoetics. EEd.d. KKateate EEichhornichhorn aandnd Canadian women writing precisely be- HHeathereather M Milne.ilne. T oorroonto:nto: C Coachoach cause of its emphasis on language ex- HHouseouse BBooks,ooks, 22009.009. perimentation. If in previous feminist discourses poets and activists advo- by Tacel Coutinho Leal cated female bonding as a way to em- Published in 2009, this anthology pre- powerment, Prismatic Publics seems to sents a selection of fifteen groundbreaking propose bonding through the crossing Canadian women writers. As in many of genres and frontiers. aspects of this volume, a hybrid charac- Nation and gender dialogue and over- ter composes the background from lap with utterly contemporary questions which they speak: the texts date from that are reshaping our being in the world, different periods, both poetry and prose such as people’s impossibility to really